Cherkizovo Group increases feed production

Cherkizovo Group, one of the largest meat producers in Russia, has actively expanded its animal feed production capacities in the last few years. The company currently has four mills, producing around 70,000 tonnes per month.

By Vladislav Vorotnikov, Russian correspondent

The farms of the Cherkizovo Group are growing and in need of more feed. Currently, the company has poultry farms with a total capacity of 400,000 tonnes live weight per year and pork production facilities with a total capacity of 180,000 tonnes live weight per year. To meet the higher demand, the company has increased its feed capacity over the last couple of years resulting in four feed mills, concentrated in the central European part of Russia.

Modern equipment

The total amount of feed production from the company has amounted to 70,000 metric tonnes per month. The Penza integrated plant of cereal products produces approximately 20,000 tonnes per month, Ojerelievsky feed mill approximately 16,000 tonnes per month, the feed section named after Lev Tolstoi produces approximately 15,000 tonnes per month and Petelino approximately 12,000 tonnes per month. All feed mills are equipped with modern (mostly) Dutch equipment and a high degree of efficiency, including equipment from Technex of Russia and Van Aarsen, Ottevanger and CPM Europe from the Netherlands.

Increased efficiency is what the Russian company is aiming for, which is reflected in the installation of new equipment and the increased capacity at the feed mills. The feed formulations are done with the programme BestMix, based on data obtained from the company’s own laboratories.

Raw materials

The main components used for production of the animal feed are: grains (wheat, barley, corn, peas), soybean meal, sunflower meal and sunflower oil. Cherkizovo also uses amino acids and minerals. Cherkizovo uses a variety of ingredients, from Russia and abroad. Grain for feed production is supplied to the plants from the south of the Penza Oblast. The grain from these regions is characterised with a high protein content. “During the production of feed we also use high-quality sunflower oil and meal produced in the Penza region by LLC Firm Ramis. We also add soybean meal from the companies Peptron and Sodruzhestvo, fish meal from Agro Trade and vitamins from Tehkorm, Dansk Vilomix and LLC Avstrokorm. “This vertically integrated structure of the holding, which includes agricultural land, grain storage facilities, feed production, livestock breeding, growing and slaughtering as well as meat processing and integrated distribution, has contributed to the sustainable revenue and profit growth in recent years,” Alexander Milykh, representative of the Cherkizovo Group concluded.

[Source: AllAboutFeed magazine Vol 30 nr 2, 2014]

Photo

Quality control of the incoming raw materials is done at the own laboratories of the feed mills.